PROPP´s TAXONOMY

Propp´ s taxonomy

SNOW WHITE

• According to Vladimir Propp there must be a princess and her father in fairly tales (Snow White and her father), a villain (Snow White´s step-mother), a hero (the Prince), a helper (they are the seven dwarves). He had also found certain recurrent points that created a constant structure in fairy tales. All these points, which are called functions, are not always present in all the tales. For instance, in Snow White ABSENTATION is depicted by the absence of her mother and careless masculine role that her father had in the story, INFORMATION function is represented by the moment when the step-mother is said that Snow White is the most beautiful woman in the kingdom so she represented a future rival for her, COMPLICITY is mainly depicted in two moments in the tale, the victim is deceived by a woodcutter and then by her step-mother dressed up as a sweet and old woman. Another function is VILLAINY which is carried out at the very beginning in the story when the evil step-mother decided to kill Snow White because of her beauty. The LIQUIDATION is the moment which the villainy is repaired, for example when the loyal woodcutter became disobedient and let Snow White to go away in order to preserve her life. Another one function is the RETURN, at just the end of the tale the hero went back to the Kingdom, and got the RECOGNITION of the dwarves when the prince kissed Snow White and suddenly, she woke up surprisingly. PUNISHMENT takes place at the end of the fairy tale when the merciless step-mother fell down to precipice while she tried to escape from the dwarves´pursuit. Finally, the WEDDING is the most typical characteristic and the last one point to be considered, here our hero marries the princess and they lived happily for ever.

According to Cindirella´s video, Propp´s taxonomy follows the following patters:

• SETTING: the where and when (A farewell kingdom, many years ago:)
• CHARACTERS:        HERO: main good character: PROTAGONIST
• VILLAIN: main bad character: ANTAGONIST
• SEQUENCE: Series of events. PLOT: all the action that takes place in the story.
• EXPOSITION: background information of the characters or the setting (first part of the plot). It may about what happened before the story began).
• CONFLICT: most important thing that happens in the story. Characters are against each other (Hero trying to help someone and Villain trying to stop hero).
• CLIMAX: when the conflic of the plot is resolved. Turning point (Hero saves princess). The most exciting part.
• RESOLUTION: end of the story. It takes place after the climax. You learn what happened to the characters after the conflic is resolved.